Modelling > Anything But Military GB

1/72 Monotross Racer

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Brian da Basher:
The state of air racing in Denmark was in disarray at the end of W.W. I. The Danes had relied on mostly German aircraft in the pre-war years. With the activities of the Allied Control Commission, it became impossible to import complete aeroplanes from their neighbor to the south. The Danes are an incredibly innovative people and were forced to make do with whatever parts they could scrounge. Thus the Monotross racing monoplane was born.







This wicked fast little racer was made from a cast-off Albatross D.V fuselage mated with a BMW inline engine from a Fokker D.VII.







Called the Monotross, the new racer certainly looked fast, but would it be a winner? Only time would tell.







Dag Dalmar, the "Dangerous Dane" would prove the racer's mettle in the most prestigious air race in all Denmark, the Copenhagen Cup.



While the Monotross Racer was not much of a high flyer, it was incredibly fast at the low altitudes of pylon racing, reaching a speed of 148 m.p.h. which completely outclassed the competition. Dag Dalmar and his Monotross took home the coveted 1919 Copenhagen Cup and the "Dangerous Dane" became one of the most famous air racers of the era.





Eventually, Danish air racing progressed to more modern types and the Monotross was forgotten. The only one built was on display for many years at the Museum of Cobbled-Together Technology in Hillerød until eaten by termites in 1956.

Brian da Basher

Brian da Basher:
This all started with a 1/72 Encore Albatross D.V bagged "Econo-Kit". I picked up a fistful of these on the cheap a while ago and decided it was high time I built one of them. Did you ever have a project that took you in a different direction than you intended? Well, I'd meant to build something for the Great War GB, but this kit had other ideas.

As you can see, the wings are molded so you can insert different center sections for particular Albatross variants.



This parts layout makes this kit ideal to convert from a biplane into a monoplane. However, doing this means you lose the upper wing radiator, so a different cooling solution needs to be found. Fortunately, the front of a Revell Fokker D.VII BMW wasn't a bad fit after a little cutting and sanding.







Some card was used to cover the top of the nose and the Revell BMW engine cylinders & exhaust were glued on top. From there, the rest of the build went easily except that the landing gear struts snapped into pieces which were lost and I had to substitute the wing struts.





A spare windscreen was attached and the model was rigged with busted guitar strings. Decals are a mix from the decal dungeon. Sharp eyes will notice the Danish codes aren't accurate for 1919, but I enjoy including little, hard-to-notice anomalies in my models.







I had a lot of fun building this model and I hope you enjoyed it and reading about the long-forgotten air racer Dag Dalmar, the "Dangerous Dane".





Brian da Basher

raafif:
very nice, Brian :) 8)  I may have to try replicating this bird in 32nd scale :icon_surprised:

Queeg:
Damn Brian - that looks perfect.  :-*

apophenia:
Ooo, that is nice!  :)

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